Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club

At the August meeting of the Club, it was decided that we would buy a set of electronic targets for use on the High Power 200 and 300 yard range for our High Power matches.  These targets will also be used on the 100 yard range for informal open shooting sessions.

The targets will be ready for use in the 2020 High Power season and prior to that time we will have several “Beta Test” shooting sessions to help us work out the bugs and to help us learn how to operate the system.

Evaluations of different vendors are being made and a decision will be brought to the Executive Board once the selection Committee has finished their evaluation.

The Mike Gingher Memorial M-1A Match was shot on Saturday, 17 August.  Six shooters came to the line , and we did something new and different for us, we scored this match in the pits, making it a two relay, one pit change match.  The first shot went down range at 9:00 and we called the last Cease Fire at 11:16, a record for a short, sweet match.  We were able to get off the line before the heat and humidity from the couple of light sprinkles set in for the afternoon.

 In the wooden gun class, the top three were: 

Mark Walters               444 –  6X

Jeff Beierke                 412 – 2X (With a six-digit Springfield Garand!)

Mike Toscos 346-3X 

 Jess Jessup took the plastic gun class with a ‘scoped AR: 

Jess Jessup                443 – 4X 

I would like to thank the winners who donated their prize money to the electronic target fund and again to Glenna and Mike Grannis for their help in running the numbers and figuring out how to hand out prize money. The next match will be September 14th, the CMP Games Match.  We will shoot this match from 200-yards in the CMP Games format and we have a category for just about any rifle you care to bring – Antique Military to Modern Sporter.

The Range at Harlan will be closed on Thursday, August 1st from 12:00 Noon until 5:00 P.M. The youth shooters from the X-Count organization will be using the range to see what it is like to shoot outdoors where wind, light, bugs and weather conditions effect their small-bore shooting.

X-Count is an Olympic Class training center for air-rifle competitors located near Speice on the north side of Ft. Wayne. For more information about them:

https://www.thexcount.com/

Your co-operation will be appreciated

There were a lot of things going on last Staurday that competed with folks coming to the Match.  I know that several of our fairly regular competitors had a match at their home club, the State Cowboy Action Match was under way, the Three Rivers Festival was an attraction, Doc had to go judge a horse show and Gary had shoulder surgery.  But – we still had an even dozen folks show for the match.

We had just about as nice a day as you could ask in mid-July.  It was warm, but not punishing (at least not until we were finished) and we had a wind from the west just about all day.  I want to thank everyone for coming out.  The match went very smoothly with no issues or hiccups at either the firing line or in the pits..

We made awards on a different basis for this match, using NRA classifications. Aggregate Class winners were:

High Master/Master:             Mike King                    775 – 26X

Expert/Sharpshooter:          Randy Jahn                 749 – 14X

Marksman:                             Bruce Bunting             665 –   4X

In the stage matches, results were:

Match 1          Offhand          Jim Jackson     189 –  2X

Match 2          Sitting             Jim Schieltz     199 – 12X

Match 3          Prone Rapid    Mike King        198 –  7X

Match 4          Prone              Mike King        198 – 10X

Our next match will be August 17^th – the THIRD weekend – to miss conflict with the NRA High Power matches at Camp Atterbury.  This will be the Mike Gingher M1A Memorial Match, shot from 300-yards in the M1A Match format.  We will shoot in M1A and “Other rifle” classes, so everyone is welcome with whatever rifle you choose to shoot.

 

 

What can be as lovely as a day in June?  200-yard rapid scores coming up.

Your three-minute Prep Period begins when your targets appear …

 The Wailing Wall

 

Saturday could not have been a better day to hold a High Power Match, and in spite of things like the Fort Wayne Air Show, roofs that had to be laid, lawn work that was long overdue and coaching kids’ softball games – eighteen shooters showed up to enjoy the day.

Unlike our usual High Power days, the weather co-operated marvelously.  A high, thin overcast kept things from getting too warm and the wind consistently stayed at our backs; from 6- o’clock to 7-o’clock all day.  The first round went downrange at 8:55 – we actually started early.

As the Range Officer, I want to commend all the shooters for doing a fantastic job all day long.  Everything went smoothly on the line – if we had been making a movie about how to run a match, you guys would have been perfect as examples.  The pits ran just like someone had written a script.  Targets came up and went down at exactly the right times, excesses and insufficients were called promptly and resolved immediately.  Scorers kept track of exactly how many rounds the shooters fired.  People moved from pits to line and back quickly and I called the last “Cease Fire – The Line Has Finished Early” at 1:55.  That’s an 80-round Match in five hours!

Our Stat Office, Mike and Glenna Grannis kept all of the scores tallied as the match went on and the Wailing Wall was posted and money given out promptly.

And, we had a visitor of note shoot with us Saturday- we welcomed Pete Yarbro who came down from around the South Bend area to shoot with us.  He is not a stranger to us – but it’s been a while since he made it down here.  Pete has a number of national awards and it is always good to see him back at Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver.

Here is how things turned out:

Match 1:  Offhand                 Jim Schieltz      194-3X             (Lima Sabers)

Match 2:  Sitting Rapid          Mark Walters    200-5X             (Double Clean – way to go Mark!)

Match 3:  Prone Rapid           Mike King        198-7X

The Prone Rapid fire stage turned out to be a bit of a scoring challenge.  Two shooters, Mike King (our newest unofficial Distinguished Shooter) and John Halter (our newest Grand Senior) tied with 198-7X scores.  We had to go back to the highest last string to break the tie, and Mike’s 100 clean topped John’s 98.  But, John cleaned the first string and Mike had a 98 ….

Match 4: Prone Slow              Mike King        198-7X

For the day – the Aggregate:

First:                Jim Schieltz                 784-18X

Second:           Mike King                    782-28X

Third:              Mark Richard               769-18X           (Welcome back Mark)

Watch for an announcement of a fun match on June 22. Our next High Power Match will be July 13, another 50/80 Match.  Put it on your calendar and I hope to see you there.

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Saturday, May 11^th, as a day when the High Power shooters finally got a break from the weatherman!  At 8:30 when we called shooters to the line for the safety briefing, it was clear and sunny!  The temperature was a bit brisk, but what little wind there was came from the east and stayed at our backs for the entire match.  If anyone had to put on more than minute or so of wind from their no-wind zero, I would be surprised.  We had bright sun and some clouds during the day, but overall it was a good day to shoot.

Twenty one (21) shooters showed up for the match, the largest group since at least the 2017 season.  Thanks to everyone who came out for the day.  The first shot went downrange at 8:57 and the final “Cease Fire” was at 2:12.  Again, congratulations to the shooters for a well disciplined and smooth running match.

At the end of the day, results were as follows:

Match Winner             Mark Walters    778-25X

Match Second            Joe Bakies       774-21X

Match Third                Mike King        773-30X

 

Match 1 Winner, Offhand                 Mark Walters             188-  4X

Match 2 Winner, Sitting                    William Collins          199-  7X

Match 3 Winner, Prone Rapid           Joe Bakies               199-10X

Match 4 Winner, Prone Slow            Mike King                  199-12X

Weather permitting, we will start Thursday High Power practice on Thursday, May 15^th.  Our next High Power match will be Saturday,  June 8^th.  Maybe we’ll get another good weather day!

 

 

Well, this year’s Work Day was pretty well a wash out, so a group of us gathered today, Tuesday May 7th, to have a High Power Work morning.  We started about 9:00 and managed to get a pretty good list of things accomplished:

 

Pasted up new full face MR-63 and SR targets on fresh backers.  This gives us a good stock of targets to start                       off High Power season

Emptied all of the trash out of the ammo boxes and restocked them with fresh supplies

Hauled the three boxes of scrap cardboard down to the burn pile – and burned them

Borrowed a plastic pipe from target 1 in the high power pits to replace the broken pipe on target 6

Mowed the 200 and 300 yard firing points to their putting green like condition for Saturday’s Match

Put two plastic target backers up on the 200-yard practice range

Gave all of the weeds on the place a really good dose of weed killer; “Die weeds, die!”

 

The wet weather has really slowed everyone down in getting the range ready for the 2019 season, but we’re getting there a day at a time.  Thanks to Mike Habel, Mark Richards, Jess Jessup, Mike and Glenna Grannis and Gary (Weed Killer) Walker for their help today.

Work Day was scheduled for Saturday, April 20th ‘way back in December – long before we could have had a weather forecast.  It was a dark, cloudy, cold day and the High Power Director was accused of scheduling the event since it looked like the kind of day for a lot of the High Power matches last year.  Let it be clear to everyone …  it was not his fault (this time).

But, in spite of a steady drizzle and an occasional downpour, about 12 or 15 folks showed up to try to do what could be done under shelter.

Jim Sweeney and a crew worked in the Wiedeman building to get tractors and mowers ready for the summer.

Denny McNabb and the carpentry crew readied some new target supports.  Denny also cut a lot of fresh 24 x 24 target backers out of the scrap cardboard that had accumulated.

A group including Gary Walker and Bruce Bunting spent time working in the pistol bays.

John Halter put on his rain gear and trimmed up brush and downed trees along the north property line.

Several folks helped Larry Beardsley hold a good cleanup in the Clubhouse.  The pile of cardboard and trash in the corner had started to look like a paper recycling warehouse and had turned into a mouse condo. The windows and sills had become well speckled with spider poop.  The rainy day gave us an opportunity to get a good Spring cleaning done in there.

Snuffling out the dead spiders, sawdust and gunk

No, we didn’t get any real outdoor work done, but we have stuff ready to be put in place when the weather breaks.

Denny cut a lot of 24 x 24 target backers and put them in the box by the door

Thanks to everyone who came out – I know I didn’t mention everyone by name – it’s just old age and failing memory, not any intent to ignore anyone.

 

Housekeeping Notes

 

 

These three boxes are the scrap cardboard and trash we cleaned out of the corner. We’ll burn them some dry day. We no longer have a dumpster, so take your trash home if you would, please.  If not, put it in the cans on the covered firing lines.  If the cans are full, take out the liner and put in a fresh one. We try to keep a new liner tied to the lid of the can.  If not – there is a box of liners under the light switch in the Clubhouse. (Carry the old bag home with you, don’t leave it sitting for someone else).

Since we have plenty of cardboard to make new backers, if your backer is shot up – take it back home.  Don’t stick it in the box “Just in case somebody else wants it”.  That’s how we end up with a box of trash.

 

After our episodes with four legged, two legged and four wheeled trespassers, the fence by the high power pits was improved and mended.  We wanted to make sure that our easy access point had been secured, so we put a camera in a tree by the groundhog hotel.

We didn’t find any unwelcome trespassers, which is a good thing.  But, we did find out that there is a lot of traffic in that corner.  We recorded, mostly at night, several different skunks (who probably live in the groundhog hotel), possums, a small deer, numerous raccoons, a scroungy looking groundhog who has already started moving dirt, and a classy dude – maybe a Foxy Lady.

What does the fox say?

 

The deadline for members to renew their 2019 Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club memberships is rapidly approaching.

The deadline for dues for is February 28th.  Any dues received on March 1st or later are subject to a $25.00 late fee.  Members whose dues are not received by April 30th will be dropped from the membership roll and must reapply for membership.

Any member having questions or who are experiencing extenuating financial issues should contact the Club Treasurer:

martindidion4@gmail.com;

or by mail at:

Treasurer

Fort Wayne Rifle and Revolver Club

P. O. Box 8295

Fort Wayne, IN  46898

 

 

 

 

Sometimes it seems that things just run all by themselves.  We go out to the range and notice that some of the supports on the target frames look like the mice and termites got into them, but the next time we’re out there, they look pretty good again. Guess what folks, things just don’t grow back or fix themselves.

 

Dennie hard at work            

 

Sunday when a bunch of us arrived for the Winter Offhand Match, Dennie McNabb was over under the bench rest shelter rebuilding target frame support.  He had several supports that had been shot up, his saw and power screwdriver and he was patching and splicing things together.  When he finished, the 25 and 50 yard target frames had been repaired and are ready for the rest of the winter.

 

Oh, by the way – did anyone notice the ‘land mines” and “gopher mounds” on the range?  Those are from the wandering horses that got into the range through the fence wire down by the pit area that kept getting turned back .  Thanks to Marty and John for taking the time to drive a bunch of steel posts across the opening to block out trespassers and stray horses.

A big Thank You to folks who take the time to keep things working for all the rest of us!

We have been notified that there is a lot of fresh horse pucky on the range again.  Again we have talked to the owner of the offending beasts about keeping his critters fenced up.

But, the real part of the problem is the breached fence just at the parking area by the high power pits.  Several years ago that fence was cut by someone who used the range as a 4-wheeler park.  We mended the fence, but it was breached again earlier in the fall and we got our first dose of horse pucky then.

Then, a week or so ago – another breach and more pucky.  We rolled the fence back and tied it, hoping to wait for warm weather, but, no luck.  We found it rolled back again this morning after folks told us about new deposits.  Once again the fence is tied back into place, but as can be seen from the pictures it isn’t horses that are opening the hole in the fence.  It is being rolled back and, although we are not expert trackers, there appear to be ATV tire prints near the road.

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are going to do a much more permanent repair in the next couple of days using some barbed wire we have in the Wiedeman building.

In the meantime, please be aware that there may be critters (four legged) loose on the range that may appear out of the brushy areas very unexpectedly.  And, keep an eye out for two-legged critters on 4-wheeled vehicles.  If you see any of the last kind – avoid confrontations, but get as much information about the critters and the vehicle as you can so we can investigate and notify me @ fwrrhpdirector@aol.com.

 

 

Members are allowed to have family and friends come out to the range as guests, but guests are not allowed on the range by themselves as unaccompanied visitors.  But, there are always some folks who don’t get the word.

Ryam Brammer sent these pictures along from a visit to the range last week.  We’ve seen deer, turkeys, rabbits, woodchucks, squirrels, dogs and cats – but most of us believe that this is a first.

 

 

Isn’t there a rule somewhere about “No horseplay on the firing line…?”  (groan..)